Page 34 



BETTER FRUIT 



June 



THE FRUIT INDUSTRY OF THE GREAT NORTHWEST 



BY E. H. SHEPARD, EDITOR "BETTER FRUIT," AT FRUIT JOBBERS' CONVENTION, SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 



AFTER being engaged in wholesale 

 business for some twenty j'ears I 

 spent a few weeks' vacation in 

 Hood River Valley. This wonderful val- 

 ley, with its beautiful scenery, its splen- 

 did climate and its intelligent people, 

 charmed me beyond expression. The 

 spell I was unable to resist, and conse- 

 quently I became a fruit grower, and 

 soon after manager and director in the 

 Hood River Apple Growers' Union, 

 which position I occupied for several 

 years, finally retiring from the manag- 

 ership, but continuing to be a director. 

 I speak of the Hood River Apple Grow- 

 ers' Union because I believe it illustrates 

 certain principles of value to the fruit 

 dealer as well as the fruit grower. I 

 believe the Hood River Apple Growers' 

 Union is founded on true principles; the 

 Union is co-operative, each stockholder 

 must be a grower, the amount of stock 

 a stockholder can hold is limited, all 

 of which are essential for continued 

 success. Perhaps the most important 

 achievement of this Union from your 

 point of view is its pack. We were first 

 to put up a pack of apples where the 

 apples in the middle were as good as 

 they were on the top layer and the apples 

 in the bottom as good as in the middle. 

 We put up a pack that we could, and 

 did, guarantee. Other districts have fol- 

 lowed, and the standard of the fruit 

 industry of the Northwest has raised 

 until now nearly every district commands 

 the confidence of the dealer. 



I believe it is of interest to every one 

 of you gentlemen present to encourage 

 every fruit growers' association with 

 your support. The association can, and 

 does, do for you what you cannot reason- 

 ably expect independents, as individuals, 

 to perform. The association has a thor- 

 ough system of inspection, and I believe, 

 gentlemen, you want, and we want, 

 inspection at our end of the line just 

 as much as you need it, and we want it 

 at your end of the line. The association 

 can put up a pack that is not only uni- 

 form, but a pack that they can guaran- 

 tee. I honestly believe that you will get 

 fruit in far more satisfactory condition 

 from the association than you will from 

 individuals, for the reason that it will 

 be properly packed, thoroughly inspected 

 and guaranteed. I will not dwell upon 

 what you may get from the individual 

 shipper because you have had sufficient 

 experience in the past in a general way 

 to know what you may expect. Permit 

 me to admit that there are individual 

 exceptions, of course. 



It is my pleasure to say today that I 

 believe the grower and dealer are nearer 

 together than they ever have been before 

 in the history of the fruit industry, and 

 I believe the closer they get together in 

 the future the more profit there will be 

 in the business for both. There is no 

 question but what much of the dissatis- 

 faction that has existed between the 

 dealer and the grower can be eliminated. 

 I believe the dissatisfaction has been 

 partially your fault and partially ours. 



The grower did not know how to pack 

 his fruit, he did not know how to grade 

 it and he did not know the proper ripe- 

 ness for picking. When low returns 

 come in with bad order reports the 

 grower censures you, which leads me to 

 offer a suggestion. I believe every fruit 

 dealer should give more attention to the 

 inspection of a car on arrival. We fruit 

 growers often get reports like this; "Car 

 arrived off condition," "Too Ripe" or 



"Frozen." It seems to be human nature 

 for the average grower when he gets 

 such a report to conclude that you are 

 untruthful, and he sincerely believes he 

 has been skinned. In my travels I have 

 seen cars arrive on the market, many of 

 which were unsalable due to the grow- 

 er's fault in some manner. Permit me to 

 offer for your consideration, if you 

 please, a suggestion. When a car arrives 

 off condition or not up to the standard 

 you should have some system of public 

 inspection that would be complete and 

 thorough in every detail; you should 

 have an inspection report rendered by 

 some broker or public fruit inspector 

 who is not interested in or connected 

 with your business, and I believe it 



would be advisable if such report could 

 be in the form of a sworn statement. 

 Now, I do not want you to infer that 1 

 am telling you how to run your busi- 

 ness, but I believe if you know the fruit 

 grower at the other end as I do it would 

 enable you to devise a ways and means 

 that would meet the situation, protect 

 3'ou in j'Our business and protect your 

 reputation. I also believe such a method 

 will be far more effective in convincing 

 the grower than the ordinarj' short per- 

 sonal "Off Condition" report made over 

 your own signature. 



I believe the fruit grower needs and 

 must have the jobber, the dealer and the 

 commission man. I do not wish to sug- 

 gest any system that will hamper you 

 in your business, but on the other hand, 

 it is my aim to assist you if possible, and 

 if I am successful I feel I am assisting 

 the fruit grower. I realize the magni- 

 tude of the fruit business and I under- 

 stand that this business must be divided. 

 The fruit industry is similar in many 

 ways to other industrial enterprises. A 

 factory, for instance, is divided into a 

 manufacturing and a selling force. The 

 fruit industry itself must be divided. 

 Growing fruit is one business and selling 

 fruit is another business. The selling 

 end must necessarily be again divided — 

 the association selling the dealer or job- 

 ber, the jobber selling the retailer and 

 the retailer selling the consumer. I do 

 not believe that the fruit grower will 

 find it practical to eliminate any one of 

 these important and necessary factors in 

 distributing his fruit. I imagine that in 

 years to come fruit will be handled 

 through the same channels in much the 

 same way as it is today. However, I 

 firmly believe that conditions will be 

 improved, and I might add there is room 

 for improvement. I ha^-e given the mat- 

 ter considerable attention and am satis- 

 fied that, generally speaking, the jobber 

 or commission man is not making an 

 unreasonable profit. I am convinced, 

 however, that the retailer is. I know of 

 many instances where the retailer's profit 

 is not only exorbitant, but outrageous. 

 I know of Hood River apples which cost 

 the retailer three dollars per box, or 

 thirty cents per dozen, being sold for 

 one dollar and fifty cents per dozen. I 

 know of apples that cost the retailer two 

 dollars to two dollars and a half per box 

 being sold at seventy-five cents, one dol- 

 lar and one dollar and twenty-five cents 

 per dozen. Now, some ma}' say in 

 answer to this that the expense of doing 

 a retail business is high. I am willing 

 to admit this may be, and frequently is, 

 true. However, I am told that the retail 

 profit in the grocery business is about 

 seventeen per cent to eighteen per cent 

 in modern stores, in the best localities, 

 but the same groceryman wants a profit 

 of from two hundred to four hundred 

 per cent on his apples. Too much profit 

 is made in retailing fruit. To illustrate, 

 I will give you a specific case. In Wash- 

 ington, D. C, an Italian fruit seller who 

 occupies a small store in which he carries 



